What a shock: Gallup finds that most upper-income Americans feel their standard of living is still rising nicely…. Wash Post: Meet the "99ers," the 1.4 miliion Americans (and counting) who have lost their unemployment benefits aftter 99 weeks.

Feministing: Vaseline launches a new skin lightening application for Facebook. Users can make their skin look whiter in their profile pictures.

A team of Stanford University researchers found the U.S. could experience constant heat waves over the next 30 years, stressing crops like corn and cotton. It would be like the kind that swept across Europe in 2003 that caused tens of thousands of fatalities.

Andy Borowitz: "Mel Gibson is like a woman-hating vuvuzela."

French parliament approves ban on burqa-like Islamic veils. In Sept. the ban will be presented to the Senate where it will most likely pass and then it’s only real barrier will be legal scholars questioning its constitutionality…. BBC: As young Africans change their sex habits, their HIV rates go down.

BP STILL SINKINGBP’s record for bold screwups even worse than known, major NYT report reveals. … Time mag on how the BP leak could cause Doomsday, as all life on earth ends. The culprit: methane, say some scientists. Far out?

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CASINO Bob Herbert: "With our help, the banks and Wall Street have done fine. Better than they had any right to expect. It’s the ordinary folks outside the casino, in the real world, who are still in desperate need of help. But in a society of, by and for the rich, that help will be a long time coming."

NOTABLES EXIT Paul Giamatti on Harvey Pekar: "He was a great artist, a true American poet, no one to replace him." … Tuli Kupferberg, Beatnik and a founder of the influential NYC ’60s rock group The Fugs (he gave them the name, taken from Mailer) passed away at age 86. I knew him in the 1970s when he used to write for, and hang around at, Crawdaddy. For tribute to Tuli and the Fugs, see two political protest videos at bottom of this page.

NOT THE APPLE OF THEIR AYE Consumers Reportslams new iPhone. Apple stock falls 2.4% today so far.

MORE "TROUBLES" Like old times in still-rancorous Northern Ireland: plastic bullets, water cannons, hijacking, clashes between police and protestors.

OBAMA LUVS BLACK PANTHERS? If you need a primer on the hysterical rightwing/Fox obsession, go here.

DOUBLE TRAGEDY Nate Henn, American killed in Uganda blast worked with child soldiers, remembered by Dave Weigel here. Amazingly, his brother went down in a plane crash a few hours later in North Carolina, but survived.

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IRAQ FOREVER Are we really leaving? Although troops are scheduled to be deployed out of Iraq by the end of 2011, troops will be staying on Baghdad’s fortified Green Zone as part of a heightened diplomacy mission. If this happens, the State Dept. may more than double the army of private security contractors. … U.S. eases rules so vets claiming PTSD can get benefits more easily.

SON OF SAM & SON OF GODNYT: "Son of Sam," still in prison in upstate New York, winning raves from Evangelicals as "born again Christian"–but is it an act? An what about his other new friends?

LOCK UP YOUR DAUGHTERS BBC: The US is "disappointed" by Switzerland’s ruling to not to extradite the film director, Roman Polanski. "A state department spokesman said it would continue to seek Mr Polanski’s arrest and extradition on charges he had sex with an underage girl in 1977."

BRAND NEWT DAYNewt Gingrich says may well run for prez. Still, the best Newt ever was in "Cat’s Cradle." Roger Ebert tweets: "Newt running for President? Memo to copy editors: Time to restore "disgraced" before his name."

BITS & PIECES Tea Party somewhat divided on Defense of Marriage Act, see state’s rights issue …. More bad polling numbers for Obama and for the Dems, from ABC this time. Paul the Octopus yet to be heard from … Sundance fave Winter’s Bone may be the best movie of the year …. Once again Sen. Scott Brown is make or break vote, this time on response to Citizen United SCOTUS decision….

TODAY’s LAFF

Part I of our tribute to the late Tuli Kupferberg and The Fugs: classic and prophetic "CIA Man," later used by Coen Brothers in "Burn After Reading."

Greg MitchellTwitter Greg Mitchell writes a daily blog for The Nation focusing on media, politics and culture. He is the former editor of Editor & Publisher and author of thirteen books. His latest book, on the 2012 Obama-Romney race, is Tricks, Lies, and Videotape. His other books include Atomic Cover-Up, The Campaign of the Century (winner of the Goldsmith Book Prize), two books related to WikiLeaks and a pair of books with Robert Jay Lifton on Hiroshima and the death penalty in America. His Twitter feed is @GregMitch and he can be reached at: epic1934@aol.com. His personal blog is Pressing Issues.